Ghost Town

Ricky Gervais is a funny guy and he is allowed to show off his humor and dry wit in a wonderfully hilarious way throughout most of this movie. It starts off with him in his office. As Bertram Pincus, he is a dentist and a woman is in his chair gabbing non-stop about her family life. Gervais' character could care less about her life. Throughout the first 45 minutes or so of the movie we learn that Bertram is not only a loner but a self-centered jerk. Not a rude, screaming name-calling jerk but a guy who speaks his mind and just isn't afraid of hurting peoples feelings. This makes him seem more real and so the humor is much more realistic and not over the top like so many movies seem to be these days. For example, in one early scene a fellow dentist in his office is inviting him to cake to celebrate the birth of his child. Most people would say, "great, be right there" and that would be it. In other movies, the jerk would say something like "Why do I care about your damn baby?" Instead, Bertram looks at him for a few seconds with a slightly annoyed look on his face and asks "Anything else?" It's dry biting wit like that which kept me laughing out loud through the first half of the movie. Another scene with him in the hospital has a nurse asking him general questions that everybody has had to answer when checking into a hospital such as what is your date of birth and what's your address. In other movies he might make up some silly answers to these questions but true to his character he just refuses to answer these "irrelevant" questions and the back and forth that goes on with him and nurse had me in stitches. For me though, once the movie gets into the second half with Bertram helping out Kinnear's character, who is a ghost after dying early in the movie, the movie starts to feel like every other romantic comedy with cliché misunderstandings and the "I saw that coming from a mile away" ending that mostly blows it for me. The biting and dry humor is there throughout the movie but it becomes less frequent as the ending draws near. So, as much as I enjoyed the first half, as usual, once the romantic part of the comedy comes into focus, the comedy becomes more cliché and less realistic. Even my friend who is a HUGE romcom fanatic was rolling her eyes and looking bored through most of the second half. The first half is funny and fresh with laughs coming at a rapid pace, while the second half slows down to a crawl at times and drags on with plot devices borrowed from hundreds of other romantic comedies. Too bad. Just like Gervais' character, this movie started out to be different and real but in the second half it decided to conform to every other movie of it's type.

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This is such a lovely film. It manages to be sweet and touching without the maudlin saccharine problems of similar movies. It has a very talented cast. Tea Leone and Greg Kinnear are excellent as always, but Ricky Gervais is a delight. Having never seen him in anything else, I didn't know what to expect, but he carried the movie beautifully. He really made the character believable and not just a caricature or a one trick pony played for laughs. You could really see the sadness and the pain of the character. It was so wonderful to watch the character develop over the course of the film. Also, it is one of those films which have become so rare these days. It is an intelligent film written for an adult audience which is still appropriate for a broad range of audience. In other words, I can take my mom to see it without being embarrassed. I'm so happy I saw it, and I hope Ricky Gervais is in any more films to come.

I have never fell asleep during a film in the cinema, until i went to see this film, i was fully rested, and drinking coffee! The reason why I saw this film was the lesser of two evils, it was either this or High school musical 3!!! The basic plot for this film is a good idea, original as well, unfortunately the finished result is often boring, pretty grinding, and left you asking some questions. Why would a man whom is not a people person move to one of the most heavily populated cities on earth? Why would a dead man need a mobile phone? How come in the scenes where the main character is walking though the streets talking to dead people / ghost, nobody living whom walks past wondering who is this madman? Does the main character actually succeed?? The film ends pretty badly, and not in a cliffhanger sort of way! This films main problem is Ricky gervais, his acting is not brilliant, admittedly some of the jokes in the film are funny, some of the items discuss are relevant to modern living, but his main fault is the style of humour he uses, which is still 'the office' based, works well for half an hour, doesn't work for a film lasting nearly two hours. This is a film I won't be renting or buying on DVD.

I'll start by saying I don't like Ricky Gervais and have never found him funny so this was going to have to be phenomenal to impress me. As far as I can recall I've only ever seen Greg Kinnear (playing Frank) in "Stuck On You" which I found mildly funny. Its hard to tell exactly what genre this film was aiming for as it misses comedy by a country mile and it wasn't really romantic enough to be a romcom, the humour (what little there was of it) wasn't really dark enough to be black comedy and its a movie about dead people so its not exactly a feel good flick either so I'd have to class this as an ego pic, solely written for Gervais to front. Fortunately for me Frank dies in the very 1st scene, Gervais plays Bertam Pincus, a dentist (I find it hard to believe he's a comedian so I really struggled to accept him playing a dentist) who is also a complete asshole (Gervais is VERY believable as an asshole) who goes into hospital for some sort of routine bowel operation. The operation itself is very quickly glossed over as you pass from him going to surgery to being discharged from hospital within mere seconds of each other. But Pincus is soon followed home by an ever increasing group of people who realise only he can see them who then procede to chase him. He returns to the hospital asking about hallucinations and eventually forces the surgeon to admit that he died for 7 minutes and can suddenly see dead people. Pincus refuses to help any of the dead with their unfinished business so they spend the movie generally hounding and following him, Pincus is asked by Frank to help his widow Gwen (Tea Leoni) from marrying another guy which Pincus does by trying to woo her himself which is difficult as he has absolutely no personality and zero clue how to talk to people. My 1st laugh in the film wasn't anything Gervais said, it was the fact he'd worn a new shirt and forgotten to remove the label. I guess it should speak volumes about how unfunny the man is if that made me laugh. Mainly what I found about Gervais was he's very boring, his whole performance was pretty much delivered in monotone with no life at all (ironic for a guy who can see dead people you'd think but in his case case, not so). Despite the fact we see at least several dozen ghosts follow Pincus near the start of the movie we only ever get to meet a select few and thats one of the less satisfying things about this movie (In my opinion it shows they weren't able to develop their characters or write material for them, either that or they wanted the movie to revolve solely around Gervais & Kinnear which given Gervais' ego is the more likely reason). Pincus asking the Indian dentist about "extracting information from a hostile" is extremely offensive and very bigoted in its assumption that all Indians are terrorists (I'm rather surprised Gervais as a Brit agreed to do that line as Britain is a very multi cultural country) and Pincus then abuses his position as a Dentist to both extract information and break up Gwens relationship. Even when Frank screws Pincus over you still don't feel sorry for him, Gervais just doesn't illict that response as an actor or a person. His Indian colleague hits it spot on when he describes him as "a f**king prick" which finally leads Pincus to go on missions of mercy for the ghosts who have been following him, helping them with their unfinished business (which in itself is rather sad as they choose to spend less than 2 minutes of the movie doing that and I would have preferred to have seen much more of him helping the ghosts out). It does feel quite satisfactory that Pincus gets killed (and in the exact same way that Frank did) but rather sadly is revived. The ending is left very open, you have no clue if Pincus still sees ghosts but he does seem to be slightly nicer and Frank did pass over.

After a stressful day, I needed a good comedy to lighten up my mood and I had been hearing a lot of good things on Ghost Town. So I saw it last Sunday, over all I think it was a pretty funny comedy, although I wasn't laughing as hard as the other audience members, but I had a nice time watching it, I think the reason why was due to how predictable it was. For example... the lead character can talk to ghosts, what do we constantly see in ghost movies? The character who can see or speak to ghosts looks crazier because they talk to the ghosts right in front of people who obviously can't see or hear the ghosts. The story was also a typical romantic comedy that wasn't really original. But one thing I was impressed with this movie was how strong Ricky Gervais held his own as a male lead, with Greg Kinnear, they made a good match. They both had great comedic timing and looked like they had a great time making this movie. Bertram Pincus doesn't have the best social skills when it comes to life... he constantly pushes people away, he's a dentist who doesn't care for his patients or co-workers, and he just wants to be left alone. Well, for what is a routine surgery, he dies for a few minutes, but is brought back to life. Later on he discovers that he can see and hear ghosts, as soon as they hear this, they go on a rampage to get him to talk to their loved one's they left behind to cross over with making sure their family is taken care of. But one specific ghost, Frank, wants Bert to talk to his widow who's with a guy he doesn't approve of, but of course Bert socializes with her realizing that maybe needing people isn't so bad and that love can be found once again. Ghost Town is worth the look, but I would recommend it more so for a matinée or a rental, it's a cute movie, just doesn't have a real comedic edge in my opinion. But it does have some good laughs in it and a nice story that will make you smile. But there is another problem I have, Bert gets hit by a bus... he is revived by Frank's wife's ex-fiancée, by C.P.R.? You get hit by a bus, you should be splattered into pieces, but instead all apparently it takes is C.P.R. and you'll be just fine. Sorry for the spoiler, but if anyone who saw this movie read this, I wonder if you agree as well? I know it's a movie, but geez, call this beyond unrealistic. Over all, it's a nice movie, but it didn't thrill me, it's good for a couple laughs, that's about it. 6/10

In Manhattan, while walking on the sidewalk talking to his wife Gwen (Téa Leoni) through the cellular, the wealthy Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear) is hit by a bus and dies. Meanwhile, the outcast, lonely and anti-social dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) is submitted to a colonoscopy and has a heart stop for seven minutes but is resurrected. When he leaves the hospital, he finds that he can see dead people on the streets. The spirits chase him asking to help them in unresolved issues; however the unpleasant Bertram does not pay attention to their requests. Frank proposes a deal to Bertram: he would keep the ghosts away from him if Bertram separates his former wife from her fiancée that is interested in her money only. Bertram accepts the proposal, but falls in love for Gwen. "Ghost Town" is a boring story absolutely miscast. The unknown Ricky Gervais performs not only a repugnant character, but is also ridiculous to compose a romantic pair with the gorgeous and sexy Téa Leoni, with his painted hair and eyebrows that give a gay look to him. Further, there is a total lack of chemistry between them, and Bertram is one of the most unpleasant characters I have ever seen in a romantic comedy. The conclusion is corny, silly and predictable. My vote is five. Title (Brazil): "Ghost Town – Um Espírito Atrás de Mim" ("Ghost Town – A Spirit Behing Me")

Until Sunday night watching the Emmy's, I hadn't a clue who Gervais was. Ricky's routine about his 'missing' award from the previous year had me in stitches, though, so come Monday - when my adult son and I decided to take in Ghost Town - I was really looking forward to seeing the movie. I have to agree with one poster who said the first half was very funny, although there were times I wanted to slap Gervais' character with a 2 by 4. He was impertinently rude. A person I would loath to meet, regardless of 'where'. Yet, given the kind of movie this was, Gervais' style of wit fit perfectly. *SPOILER ALERT* And the routine between him and the admitting nurse at the hospital was hilarious. I mean, really - they do ask the most mundane and unrelated questions. Who cares what a person does for a living if they're going in for one of THOSE procedures, right. Oh, and the previous scene, with Gervais staring at the three bottles of - whatever it was? Hilarious! My mother had to endure two such events and I remember all too well how she would dash to the restroom after downing her trio of white stuff. I vowed never to have one done, not ever. Gervais did a great job with that part. Still, the theme, unique in some areas, was a bit too redundant overall, at least for me. In defense of Ghost Town, however, I think it would be near impossible to come up with a script so unique that it can stand alone. Suffice it to say, the movie was at time enjoyable, but it did seem to lose a bit of steam once Gervais' character became interested in Tea Leoni's. *END SPOILER ALERT* And I have to say that Tea turned out an excellent performance for the limited script they gave her. Greg Kennar, as well, did a great job as her jerky but very dead husband. I did enjoy the turn-about of Gervais' character, too; that said a lot without being preachy. Nevertheless, I can't say that my sides were hurting from too much laughing - and I was so hoping to do a lot of laughing. I think it could have been funnier and more spontaneous - and shorter. It was about twenty minutes too long. Had they kept it under 1.5 hours, I think they would have had a knockout winner. In summary, Ricky's intro into the world of movies was enjoyable enough and I look forward to his next project. I recommend it only if you like romantic comedies with a side of sarcasm.

Ricky Gervais is a funny guy and he is allowed to show off his humor and dry wit in a wonderfully hilarious way throughout most of this movie. It starts off with him in his office. As Bertram Pincus, he is a dentist and a woman is in his chair gabbing non-stop about her family life. Gervais' character could care less about her life. Throughout the first 45 minutes or so of the movie we learn that Bertram is not only a loner but a self-centered jerk. Not a rude, screaming name-calling jerk but a guy who speaks his mind and just isn't afraid of hurting peoples feelings. This makes him seem more real and so the humor is much more realistic and not over the top like so many movies seem to be these days. For example, in one early scene a fellow dentist in his office is inviting him to cake to celebrate the birth of his child. Most people would say, "great, be right there" and that would be it. In other movies, the jerk would say something like "Why do I care about your damn baby?" Instead, Bertram looks at him for a few seconds with a slightly annoyed look on his face and asks "Anything else?" It's dry biting wit like that which kept me laughing out loud through the first half of the movie. Another scene with him in the hospital has a nurse asking him general questions that everybody has had to answer when checking into a hospital such as what is your date of birth and what's your address. In other movies he might make up some silly answers to these questions but true to his character he just refuses to answer these "irrelevant" questions and the back and forth that goes on with him and nurse had me in stitches. For me though, once the movie gets into the second half with Bertram helping out Kinnear's character, who is a ghost after dying early in the movie, the movie starts to feel like every other romantic comedy with cliché misunderstandings and the "I saw that coming from a mile away" ending that mostly blows it for me. The biting and dry humor is there throughout the movie but it becomes less frequent as the ending draws near. So, as much as I enjoyed the first half, as usual, once the romantic part of the comedy comes into focus, the comedy becomes more cliché and less realistic. Even my friend who is a HUGE romcom fanatic was rolling her eyes and looking bored through most of the second half. The first half is funny and fresh with laughs coming at a rapid pace, while the second half slows down to a crawl at times and drags on with plot devices borrowed from hundreds of other romantic comedies. Too bad. Just like Gervais' character, this movie started out to be different and real but in the second half it decided to conform to every other movie of it's type.